There will be at least one new face on the Hillsboro R-3 Board of Education after the April 5 election, as one of the incumbents for the two seats on the ballot, Renee Sucharski, has decided not to try for a third three-year term.
The other incumbent, Robert Kruse, is seeking a third full term after he was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2015.
He is joined in the race by Dale Scott, Jaclyn Brown, former board member Jon Schuessler and Chris Borgerson.
KRUSE, 48, lives in Hillsboro. He and his wife, Stacy, have three children. He is self-employed at Hearth and Home in De Soto. He studied horticulture and business management at St. Louis Community College.
SCOTT, 70, lives in the Hillsboro area. He and his wife, Sharon, have two children and a grandchild. He is retired after working more than 30 years in in information technology and business management and administration. He has an associate degree from Jefferson College.
BROWN, 40, lives in the De Soto area. She and her husband, David, have two children. She is a community services manager at the Jefferson County Health Department. She received a bachelor's degree in theater from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2003 and completed master’s level courses and an early childhood certification at Missouri Baptist University from 2010 to 2013.
Her cousin is a teacher for the district.
SCHUESSLER, 45, lives in Hillsboro. He is single. He is a private tutor. A graduate of Hillsboro High School, he has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from University of Missouri-Rolla and completed graduate work in secondary mathematics education at Webster University as well as completed student teaching training.
BORGERSON, 72, lives in the Festus area. He is a retired law enforcement officer, college teacher and businessman. He received a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Missouri, a master’s degree in government-public administration from Southern Illinois University in 1991, is pursuing a master’s degree in counseling from Missouri Baptist University. He graduated from the U.S. Marine Corps Officer Basic School, was certified as a peace officer in 1977 by the Missouri Department of Public Safety, as a peace officer standards and training generalist instructor in 2005 and as a peace officer crisis intervention team member this year.
He worked as a substitute teacher for the district for a year.
What experience do you have (elected office, civic organizations, volunteer work, etc.) that might serve you well in this position?
Kruse: I have been on the board for seven years. I was asked to be a part of the board when crazy things were happening and several members resigned. Since then, we have built up trust in the community, parents and staff and worked hard to do what is best for kids.
Scott: I have served on numerous boards and committees in my business and personal life and I have also attended school board meetings so I am well aware of how the board works, what kind of responsibilities I will have and what will be expected of me.
Brown: I have been a member of the De Soto Rural Fire Protection District Board of Directors, have been a parish pastor for St. Andrew’s United Methodist and a previous Guardian Hawks member.
Schuessler: I served a previous three-year term on the board, I have been a volunteer with the Adopt-a-Highway program and am active at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Imperial.
Borgerson: I have been a businessman for 10 years with Borgerson and Associates LLC. I was a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for 12 years, have been an investigator for the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and directed college criminal justice and police academies. I also was trained in leadership and management with the U.S. Marine Corps, where I did three years of active duty and nine years as a reservist.
What are the biggest problems facing the district and how would you address them?
Kruse: We need to work hard to establish a new normal for students post-pandemic. Some kids have never been a part of normal school until this year. We have to make up education that was lost over two years. Also, during this time of inflation and cost-of-living increases we have to figure out how to do the best we can for our staff to keep and attract them. When staff is 82 percent of your budget, we have to get creative.
Scott: School funding. It is important that we do everything we can to maintain the buildings and grounds. We also need to continue to invest in the educational needs of our children. Our teachers and staff deserve fair salaries and we need to make sure the teachers and students have whatever resources they need.
Brown: Increased mental health issues for students and staff, loss of academic learning and a need for early childhood opportunities. I would work to increase access to resources, early childhood programs and adaptive learning environments that will support students who are not excelling in classroom settings.
Schuessler: Long-term finances will be hard to manage in the current inflationary time. The district needs to continue to anticipate and save for future hardships. Curriculum is widely out of touch with the community in places. We need more practical, hands-on classes. We should resist outside influences pushing for culture wars and indoctrination. We need to ensure that students graduate with useful skills and knowledge, not just a diploma which, by itself, has become increasingly irrelevant.
Borgerson: The biggest problems:
■ State test scores are unsatisfactory. Leadership needs to be honest with students and families and to motivate students to apply themselves.
■ The COVID-19 experience put student learning behind where it should be and three solutions are offering summer school, after-school and Saturday half-day tutorials and appropriate online instruction
■ I have heard complaints from teachers, parents and students that there can be an atmosphere of disrespect for teachers. The solution is fair discipline and “tough love,” if necessary. Leadership is needed here.
Why should voters elect you to this position? List your goals, if elected.
Kruse: I am asking to allow me to work for your kids one last term. There are some things we did not get to accomplish when the pandemic hit. I hope to continue building our agriculture department for all ages and emphasize vocational learning. I have always claimed to be a parent representative with one goal – to make this a better place for our kids.
Scott: My No. 1 priority is the health, welfare and education of our students. We also need to do everything we can to support the teachers and staff by providing a safe place for them to work and proper funding so they can effectively do their jobs.
Brown: I am a second-generation Hillsboro alumni and a current Hillsboro parent. Several of my family members have taught at Hillsboro. My experience as an early childhood educator and administrator will be an asset to make informed decisions regarding what is best for the students, staff, visitors and taxpayers.
Schuessler: I will strive to rid the district of as much entangling bureaucracy and waste as the state government will allow. The district and its teachers have suffered long enough from a failed federal policy of high-stakes testing with ridiculous goals. Parents and voters need to be aware just how damaging this has been to real education, and how much valuable time gets wasted. The Missouri School Boards Association is a powerful, invisible and unelected influence on school policy that promotes private agendas and word-salad rules that nobody understands.
Borgerson: Schools should teach reading, writing, math, history, art, music and sports and should not be involved in social engineering such as promoting critical race theory or sexual orientation. Leadership should spend tax dollars responsibly and should be innovative and positive thinking.
My goals if elected:
■ Implement policies that educate students and raise test scores, such as having students leave cell phones in their lockers when in class.
■ Financially support the wrestling, archery and other clubs fairly.
■ Have a long-range plan for building and bus maintenance and repairs.
Do you support the district's two propositions on the April ballot, one a $25 million bond issue and the other a 40-cent tax shift from the debt service levy to the operating levy? Why or why not?
Kruse: Yes. We have worked hard to manage our revenue and have paid down a lot of debt and have lowered our tax rate. That we could add the farm to our campus without having to ask for money is an accomplishment. If you have kids or grandkids in band, choir, athletics, science classes and more, they will benefit. I hope to offer wellness resources to the city as well. We need more resources for students to graduate with job-ready skills. This will do that.
Scott: I fully support the proposed tax issues. I have a child in the district now and have two grown children who received their education at Hillsboro. They all received, and are receiving, a quality education and we need to continue to fund the schools so they can continue doing that.
Brown: I support both ballot propositions. If passed, this will help accomplish current and identified tasks needed to maintain and improve the district. This will also ensure better planning methods for future critical needs and growth.
Schuessler: No. I generally oppose borrowing. The administration wants these measures to make the district more self-sustaining long-term and avoid future borrowing. I applaud this, but I’m not convinced it will work. The tax shift doesn’t concern me under the current administration, but I worry what future administrations might do. I appreciate the straightforward way that the bond issue was presented – a tax extension with real consequences – as opposed to the common “no tax increase” slogan that tries to deceive the public. Voters make better decisions when honestly informed.
Borgerson: No. With $5-a-gallon gasoline and a COVID-19-damaged economy, we have an uncertain future and should maintain the status quo for another year or two until the economy is sorted out. I do not have enough information to make an informed decision.
What letter grade would you give your school board on its policies regarding the COVID-19 pandemic? Why?
Kruse: B+. We have had an unimaginable two years that no one ever had been through before. At the core of every decision was what was best for kids and staff. When science and politics do not agree, they throw the burden on local governments. We have done the best we could with the information we had. Could some decisions have been different? Everyone has their own idea. These decisions were made with no agendas other than how to protect our community. Now, we need to gain back what was lost in classrooms.
Scott: For the 2020-2021 school year, a B. They set up virtual classes, limited class sizes and required masks. For 2021-2022, a D. All students were back in school with no social distancing or mask requirements. Literally hundreds of students and staff have been infected and have been negatively affected because of COVID. Hopefully we are past it now.
Brown: Board members were faced with many challenging decisions during unprecedented times and made difficult, yet educated, decisions to support the safety and learning of students and staff.
Schuessler: B. Giving people a choice about masks is important and demonstrates to students the value of liberty and living and working with people who have different ideas. It’s even more important to never try to force someone to undertake medical treatments with known risks and unknown long-term effects. The all-virtual semester and subsequent two-day in-person school weeks were harmful to most parents and students – financially, emotionally and educationally – with very little evidence of any benefit. They should never be repeated.
Borgerson: F. Mask mandates should have been dropped six months after the COVID-19 experience began. Masking students and employees harms learning. Doing your job and promoting useless fear trains our people to be sheeple.